that is monday. i'm ashleigh banfield. thanks for watching, everyone. history made. danica patrick becomes the first woman ever to win the pole position in nascar. don't be modest. you won this time. what are you doing this time? >> i don't know if i know how to answer that. >> she talks with me about making history. and flying with kids is tough, but one woman says that a boozy passenger slapped her child and then called her a racial slur. the murder of john lennon and letters surfacing from his killer to the arresting officer. we're talking to the former cop. and a favorite american whiskey reverses course after

fans get angry over a formula change. hello, everyone. thanks for joining us. i'm don lemon and we want to get you up to speed on the day's headlines. sports history has been made today, and a boy's club no more. danica patrick has won the pole at the daytona 500, breaking 196 miles an hour in one qualifying lap. she's the first woman to win the pole at daytona or any sprint cup race. i interviewed danica a while ago and stay right there, and i will show you the full conversation in a few moments. massive spending cuts are coming, and you should get ready for them and that what wyoming republican john barrasso said this weekend. remember the fiscal cliff a couple of months ago? democrats favor raising taxes and other alternatives to across the board cuts. so another deadline and countdown and plenty more budget fighting on capitol hill.

a top white house aide is defending a new administration plan for immigration reform. the plan was leaked over the weekend, angering republicans and the democrats in congress working on their own. and marco rubio calls it dead on arrival in the current form. and senator john mccain says that chuck hagel will be probably be confirmed as the next defense secretary. he believes he has enough votes to join president obama's cabinet once the senate reconvenes next week. and in russia, they are trying to calm down after that meteor plowed through friday. some people say the impact site say they're scared to stand near the windows, remembering that cosmic explosion. it injured more than 1,000 people and damaged thousands of

buildings. john lennon's killer wrote chilling letters and sent them to the officer who arrested him. now in an exclusive interview, the officer is speaking out for the first time. mark david chapman wrote steve spiro in 1983. he wanted to be friends with the officer, and he had other questions and other requests as well. i spoke earlier with officer steve spiro. steve, what did you think when the letters were showing up in the mailbox and they are fascinating to read. what did you think? >> i was shocked. i said, why are you sending this to me? but when you spent five hours with somebody, you get to know them a little bit. and he was -- he was still selling himself three years after the murder that he wanted to be infamous. >> i can't -- i can barely read this here, but he said the reason he wanted to write to you from the time, and he goes on the say from the time i guess of

the arrest or the event he says -- >> right. >> -- i felt very close to you and he is obsessed with the "catcher in the rye" and talks about the character holden in "catcher in the rye" and he is asking you the read it and specifically talking about his particular copy we he believes that he left at the crime scene or in your patrol car. >> yes, he left it at the crime scene. >> did you give it back to him? >> no, i vouchered it and went to the district attorney's office as evidence. >> why did he want you to read it? in the letters he said, i want you read it, because i want you to know about what holden says about phoniness. john lennon was a phony to the rest of the world. >> well, he said about the phoniness that the rich people don't give to the certain charities that, you know, he would like. >> so, steve, why are you releasing the letters now? >> well, i'm 66 years old, and they have been sitting here for 30 years.

and i decided that -- to sell them. i believe that the parole board should see that three years after this guy killed john lennon that he admits that he had a hit list. the d.a. knows that. but a lot of people don't know that he had a hit list to serve his purpose. it wasn't just john lennon. that's important if the parole board is ever going to think of letting him out. >> you say in the letters that the sorts of things that are in in these letters, it would ensure that john lennon's killer might never get parole, you said because he had a hit list. who else was on that hit list? >> well, i don't know what the parole board really thinks, but i think that the world should know that there was a hit list. >> who else was on the hit list.

>> it was walter cronkite, george c. scott, jackie onassis and -- i'm trying to think of who else. >> were these names in the letters to you? >> no. see, i was trying to get him to admit that. you see, i had known through the investigation in the d.a.'s office that he had named these people to the psychiatrist but they wouldn't allow that to hit the street. so i figured if i could get him to mention it in a letter, i could, you know, confirm it. but he said other people would serve its purpose. that is what he meant by that with the hit list. he says, you know, and the d.a. knows the names. >> do you ever go back now to on the upper west side and ever go back and walk by the dakota?

>> yeah, i have been there a few times. you know? it's not a great place to visit anymore. it's a magnificent building and everything, but what i felt then, it was so sad that he died because he had a son the same age as mine. and i said, here, this kid is going to grow up without a father. i couldn't care less if he never wrote another song or whatever, but it was the fact that this guy was a father and he was enjoying the hell out of it. >> steve spiro. thank you. breaking news into cnn. tragic news tonight from the world of country music. police officials confirm that singer mindy mccready has apparently committed suicide. the 37-year-old who broke on to the music scene in the mid-1990s and since then her career up and down with the drama of a very troubled personal life. again, this is just into cnn and we're just now getting it confirmed.

i want to go live now to los angeles and dr. drew penski, an addiction medicine specialist and host of hln's "dr. drew." dr. drew, you have actually worked with her before. and we are actually confirming now through your contacts as well that she has died. what can you tell us about what happened to her? >> well, i don't know if people may or may not be aware, but she had been doing well and things were looking up for her. she had children with a boyfriend who ended up killing himself a few weeks ago. she was struggling after that. actually admitted herself to a psychiatric facility, and there's a cautionary tale here about the stigma of mental illness and the way in which the public attacks celebrities of which take care of themselves, and she was so fearful of the stigma and the way people were responding to her being hospitalized that she checked herself out prematurely and we have what we have. >> as i sit here looking at the picture, i am remembering a story from a while back that

involved a child in custody with her? can you refresh our memory with that? do you know what i'm talking about? >> yes, she had a long struggle to regain customer dive her child whom she finally just recently had custody again and, again, establishing a stable home with her boyfriend and things went off on a bad direction after he killed himself. again, i have no direct knowledge of this, but this is what i am understanding. i did hear from very concerned friends that she was struggling a few weeks ago, so i had not seen her in years, but i reached out to here her, and she sounded good. >> but you knew her personally -- >> no, no. i treated her for three weeks in a celebrity rehab episode several years ago and i always had contact with her for various levels, and i did not treat her and i was not her physician, but when i heard she was struggling, i did reach out to her and urged her to go take care of herself

and get to a facility if she needed and there was good support around her to do that, but the biggest fear was stigma and what people would think if, god forbid, she would take care of herself. that is the most distressing part, and we have lost her and, did not have to go down like this. >> if you can continue to talk to us about that. people have all kinds of illnesses, cancer, hiv, there's such a stigma when it comes to issues of that matter. >> that's precisely the point. it is all about mental illness and people have just ignored that. we want it to be a weakness and a moral issue or anything but a problem with our brain function. not only that, but one of my hopes was in bringing celebrity rehab out was to teach people how dangerous addiction was. if i was doing a show on cancer there would not be much surprise when my cancer patient died. we'd celebrate a few years of good, quality life.

people don't understand that addiction is the same prognosis and if you have other mental issues on top of that, it is so much worse. this is not an addiction death, but it is interesting, had her boyfriend not died, i don't think we'd be in this position right now. >> we talk about the warning signs, but really, anything that, is there anything that you can do when someone is in this predicament or up to them? >> yes. no, don. the point is that suicidality usually passes, and that is why we hold people against their will. so if you know somebody who is even contemplating or thinking passively about it or god forbid begins giving things away, you take that person to a hospital, and you deal with it like a medical emergency. it is a life-threatening event, when oftentimes when people are held for a period of time passes. they are thankful when they are held against their will. they may not go willingly, but they are thankful when given the appropriate care. and the bottom line is that care

works if it is sustained. the kind of care that somebody like mindy needs and millions of americans out there is not like a car wash where they are fixed, it's ongoing regular maintenance in order to prevent deadly outcomes. >> again, i think it's important what you said, and i don't want it to be glossed over to not lose the importance, but you said it is no different than an addiction, because we will hear about the death of whitney houston dying partially because of an addiction or weakened heart or what have you, but addiction problems and mental illness. you said there's not a deference between the two. >> between cancer and mental illness, and people don't understand that this is a brain disease. don, you and i were here last year talking about whitney houston and we had the same conversation that people were not stepping up and getting her the care she needed, and lo and behold, you have a death. this is a deadly process, and it has to be given the priority and

the intensity of services that we do to other illnesses. it's absolutely absurd that we give hopeless illnesses much more resources than we give this one that's treatable and can prevent people from dying prematurely. >> when you think of someone who has as much as mindy mccready had as a promising career and money by all accounts, more than most americans have, how do you lose sight of that and go down this dark hole and end up taking your own life. how does that happen? >> well, it is an interesting question, because people would think that if you had all of these things, that you would not get depressed, and that is simply not true. mental illness is not discriminatory in terms of who it affects or what socioeconomic -- obviously if your life is stressful, you are more prone to these things. but just because you have a lot,

and remember that what is really important for human beings is other people, important relationships, and she lost a crucial relationship in her life. this is somebody she loved deeply. and by the way, let's not lose sight of the fact that there are people around mindy here who are suffering greatly tonight, she was a deeply loved woman. >> 37 years old. dr. drew, we have to move on, but since you said you knew her, you were not a close friend of hers. >> no, i treated her once and acquaintance later and we will deal with the whole legacy tomorrow night on my show. >> with the limited experience that you did have with her, there is usually something about every single person that i meet that is memorable. what do you remember about her? >> you know what it was that, this is going to sound glib but it's her smile. she was a beautiful woman. she had the potential to really light up the room. she was a warm person. she had a lot of struggles, and she has had a lot of chaos in

her life over the years, but what attracted everybody to her is precisely that, that she was, lovely is the word that comes to mind for me, and she was never otherwise. >> okay. dr. drew 9:00 p.m. eastern will be covering it, talking about the death of mindy mccreaddie. 37 years old. it's gonna be 30 m. oh, so that means that we won't be stuck up here, for hours, with nothing to do. oh i get it, you wanna pass the time, huh. (holds up phone) fruit ninja!!! emergency roadside assistance. just a click away with the geico mobile app. i had[ designer ]eeling enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin.

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50 years after the assassination of john f. kennedy, pieces of his legacy up for grabs now. hundreds of items of ken da family memorabilia hit the auction blocks in massachusetts today. items like the air force i bomber jacket, a birthday card signed by john, jr. to his dad and a marked up itinerary for the slain president's november 1963 trip to dallas. the items were found tucked away in the home of one of jfk's close assistants. a month of killing burmese pythons in florida has paid off for lucky hunters. cash prizes were awarded for the most and the largest. a 14-footer was worth $1,000 to the hunter who killed it. look at that thing. another hunter snagged the top prize of $1,500 for killing 18 of the giant snakes, and all 68 snakes were killed, and the game officials fear the snakes will wipe out wildlife in the florida

everglades unless they are killed. nobody likes to be on the plane with a fussy toddler and it is probably more difficult if it is your baby but one minnesota mom is traumatized after a plane ride with her son. she says a man sitting next to them slapped her toddler. we have the story. >> reporter: jonah bennett is a smart and smily 19-month-old, >> big kiss. mwah! >> reporter: but it is what happened on the delta flight that has his parents doing anything but smiling. >> he hit a child. he said what he said. it's disgusting. >> reporter: jessica bennett and her son were flying to atlanta and they sat next to this man, 60-year-old joe huntley from idaho. >> he was rude and belligerent. >> reporter: she said that he wreaked of alcohol and drank on the plane, but as the plane descended, jonah was fussy and the already uncomfortable flight got even worse.

>> i was having trouble comforting him and that is when the guy made his comment to me. >> reporter: as the court documents state, this is when huntley basically told jessica, quote, shut that "n" word baby up, but it didn't end there. he used the slur a second time and then slapped jonah hitting him in the eye. >> i could not believe that he would say something like that to a baby or about a baby and to hit him, i felt like i was in another world. i was shaking. >> reporter: jessica says other passengers eventually came to her aid and the two were given a new seat. but while jonah is back to a curious toddler, they call his actions heinous and hateful and want something to be done. >> the evidence is sufficient enough to support what we are saying, and i hope that he is punished as much as he possibly can be. >> reporter: it is an experience the bennetts never want to go through again but one this family will think about the next

time they fly. >> i think that i will be replaying it the whole time. very traumatic. >> dave berggren from our affiliate kare with that report. and joe hundley has been suspended from his job pending an investigation, charged with assault. his attorney says, quote, we want the case to move along as it is supposed to, and we hope it will resolve itself. a powerful foursome hits the golf links. the president and tiger both tee up for a round of golf in florida. a leaked white house immigration plan has some in congress seeing red and one senator even said, this thing has, quote, got them dead on arrival. what's got them all riled up, next. i found a powerful new way to cut out arthritis pain.

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president obama must be feeling confident in his golf game these days, because the white house confirms that he played 18 holes with tiger woods. the president is on a mini vacation to a florida resort this weekend. his foursome included the owner

of the resort, a man named jim crain, a man who happens to be a major democratic donor. and firefighters intercepted three small planes that were flying in the president's air space. two ses flas and a small seater aircraft were all forced to leave the area. senator john mccain has been leading the republican charge against the response in benghazi libya as well as the battle over defense secretary nominee chuck hagel. does mccain have a bigger strategy in play here or is he just trying to get to the truth? i talked about it with cnn contributor l.z. granderson and anna navarro. i started with the tough new comments from mccain on "meet the press." >> you said a cover-up, and a cover-up of what? >> of the information concerning the deaths of four brave americans. the information has not been forthcoming. you can obviously believe that it has, but i know that it

hasn't. and i will be glad to send you a list of the questions that have not been answered. >> l.z., is he correct? is there a white house cover-up when it comes to the 9/11 attack on our consulate in benghazi, libya? >> well, he sure seems to think so. i don't know why he is so hell bent on trying to find more answers after we have gotten pretty much everyone who was directly involved in benghazi already on the record. i really am just wondering if he doing this to try to sure up the cred to be the military's voice and the servicemen and women understand that he will fight for them every step of the way, but other than that, i don't know what productive thing can come out of the conversation. >> ana, it does seem that he has been on a mission lately. he's been going after the president on benghazi and others in the white house and take on his old friend chuck hagel in the confirmation hearing for defense secretary.

what is mccain doing here? >> doing his job. he understands that his job as a senator is not to rubber stamp the nominations, but to advice and consent and scrutinize the nominees. if not now, when? and i think what he's doing on benghazi, what he has done along with other senators, like kelly ayotte and others, let's think about this. were it not for the john mccains and the kelly ayottes and others that it was due to a video. that benghazi was due to a video and that's simply not true. because of the activity, there is a scathing report about the negligence and the breaches of security of the state department. there have been recommendations made and there may be american lives saved in the future, because of this saga with john mccain right now. so i'm very proud of him for having done it. >> ana navarro and lz granderson.

thank you very much. we are following some breaking news after a country music singer dies after taking her own life. crowds gather at the vatican for one of the pope's final acts as leader of the catholic church. rs, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. the rich, sweet taste of sugar. nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse. sweetness naturally.

it is half past the hour and we want to get caught up on the headlines right now. we have breaking news coming in to cnn from the country music world. police officials in arkansas are confirming to cnn that singer mindy mccready has been found dead. she parentally committed suicide. the 37-year-old reportedly committed suicide at a home in

arkansas. mccready had a history of addiction and mental illness. make sure you stay right there. my conversation with dr. drew pinsky, she worked with him in his medical show for a short time. my interview with him is coming up here on cnn. mindy mccready, 37 yeerars old s been found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. the mastermind of the world trade center bombings says he is not a security threat, and he wants his communications lifted. ramzi yousef has been in solitary confinement since 1998. he was sentenced to life plus 20 years. now facing murder charges, south african sprinter oscar pistorius has dropped out of several races including one set for april in the u.s. although he is under contract to run, the management company said he dropped out to deal with the charges he now faces.

he is accused of shooting his girlfriend model reeva steenkamp on valentine's day. sanchez seen here on the left had been refused an exit visa for years. she's headed on an 80-day tour of ten countries, including the u.s. sanchez says she doesn't plan to temper her criticism of life in cuba just because she got the exit visa. she acknowledges it could be her last trip out of the country. a bigger than normal crowd packed the vatican city today. it's the second to the last time pope benedict xvi will address crowds from that famous window overlooking st. peter's square. over 100,000 people turned out to hear pope benedict ask for prayers for the next pope. ben wedeman is covering the story from rome. >> reporter: a much larger crowd crammed into st. peters square

to hear pope benedict give his penultimate angeles prayer. he asked for them to pray for him and the next pope. the pope is now going into a week-long lenten retreat. this is an annual tradition, and part of the lenten season. when he re-emerges, he will convene the last angelis prayer and then step down as the pontiff. it's not clear at this point when the meeting of the conclave, the meeting of 117 cardinals assembled to vote for the next pope will meet. however, a senior vatican spokesman on saturday said that, it could happen earlier than planned, before the 15th of march. i'm ben wedeman, cnn, reporting from rome. >> all right. thank you, ben. a cold day to talk about global warming. thousands braved frigid temperatures on the national mall to demand action on climate change.

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a huge rally at the national mall in washington today as thousands, well they pleaded for more action on climate change. chris lawrence talked to those who braved the freezing temperatures hoping it all will lead to changes in the u.s. energy policy. >> reporter: don, it has been one of the coldest days of the year here in washington, but it didn't stop tens of thousands of people from jamming the national mall and then marching from here right past the white house. even though president obama is away in florida, the message that they wanted to send to him is clear. they want two things. they want the environmental protection agency to establish stricter emission standards on the existing power plants and not just future plants that will be built down the line. they also want president obama to kill the extension of the keystone pipeline. that is the oil pipeline that is coming from canada and would cut through the united states and bring oil all the way to the

gulf coast. a lot of folks here are younger voters, younger people, who say even though the u.s. right now may be as focused on the debt ceiling and other issues, it's time to look further down the line. >> i'm only 16. someday i hope to have my own kids. i want them to live in a world that's, you know, like environmentally safe and natural. >> keystone xl is a dirty and dangerous pipeline to literally cut the country in half carrying a dangerous fuel, and it will cause run away climate change. >> reporter: on the flipside, a lot of folks say tighter emission standards have already cost some jobs at coal plants in places like west virginia. tightening them further is only going to squeeze that part of the economy even more. and some of the higher prices will be passed on to you and me as consumers. they also argue that the keystone pipeline will be safe with today's technology and will bring jobs to places like

nebraska and also help the u.s. become more energy independent. don't? all right. thank you, chris. the big stories in the week ahead from wall street to hollywood, and our correspondents will tell you what you need to know. we begin tonight with what's happening at the pentagon. >> i'm barbara starr at the pentagon. defense secretary leon panetta was to be home in california in retirement, but now that congress will not deal with the chuck hagel nomination for another ten days, panetta still is on the job. he will travel to brussels for a nato summit to talk about afghanistan and other security issues. when the summit is over on friday, the big question, does he come back to the pentagon or does he try once again to go home to california? >> i'm poppy harlow in new york and while the markets are closed monday for the presidents' day holiday, but when they reopen tuesday, we will get key earnings and economic reports. the latest existing home sales numbers will come out wednesday

that will help us see if the housing recovery is continuing because existing home sales account for about 90% of the overall housing market. on the earnings front, we will hear from walmart and marriott and all eyes will be on dell as the computermaker reports its quarterly numbers. founder michael dell has made a $24 billion bid to take that struggling company private, whether the shareholders will sign on is the big question. we will keep an eye on that and all of the business news coming up on cnn money. i'm a.j. hammer and here's what's happening on "showbiz tonight." we count down the road to the oscars next weekend, and we will go one on one with oscars host seth macfarland and you will see how he is getting ready for the epic gig. and danica patrick has been surrounded by hype, but now she's making history. my conversation with the daytona

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nascar driver danica patrick is going to be known for more than her commercial star power. she's the pole sitter for this year's daytona 500. i spoke with her not long after her groundbreaking achievement and i asked her if she understood the magnitude of making this important mark in sports history? >> in a simple word, yes, i understand that. understanding the scope of what that means and what it will end up meaning or if any is something that happens down the

road. in the moment, it's about thinking about what i need to do for next sunday and try to make some more history. >> tell us about the reaction from your fellow drivers, including your team owner tony stewart? >> tony came over and we had gotten the pole and qualifying was over with, and he came over the say good job, and, you know, for me, i just wanted to tell him thank you for giving me the chance, the crew and the car and the job at his team to be able to go out there and do something like that. it means a lot, and it goes a long way when someone like tony stewart believes in you. >> i met tony stewart a couple of years ago doing a interview for daytona 500 and he could not have been more gracious. a very gracious man. let's talk a little bit more about you. winning the pole is one thing. now you have to go out and race in a 125-mile qualifying race and then a 500-mile main event on sunday. how are you going to prepare for this this week?

>> well, i'm going to hope that i can have a little bit of time off between now and when we hit the track on wednesday. i'm racing in the nationwide race which i think will be good help for the race on sunday, the daytona 500. i'll be racing on saturday and sunday. just getting out there in traffic and feeling what it's like around other cars. we'll have to be smart about what we do out there on the track. i believe if we crash in practice or the duels, a race we do on thursday, we don't get to start in the front row. we'll have to be a little bit smart. doesn't mean we can't get that chance to go out there and feel what it's like around other cars. >> don't be modest. you won this time. you won the pole position. what are you doing this time that's different or better than you were doing before or better than the other drivers? >> i don't know how to answer that. i mean, you know, i -- all i can

do as a driver when i qualify at a place like daytona is to be smooth and not let the car bind up too much and let it take its head and let it go where it wants to go a little bit and yet keeping a minimum distance as little as possible, but other than that, it is very much about the crew. i know you told me not to be modest, but it is very much about the crew and the engine and the car, and those elements have to be in place for you to go out there to be able to have a chance at the pole. >> and you were also modest when you answered the history question, but you said that you do understand that you made history today. it is a ground-breaking, but do you understand that there are young women and little girls at home watching you and who all of a sudden today will say, i can do that, i can become a race car driver. i can become a danica patrick. and little boys. my producer is saying little boys. but they've had role models since the beginning. but you are a role model for little girls. do you get that?

>> i love to go beyond racing in general to just kind of break gender barriers, i feel that one of the coolest things is to be able to think that parents and their kids are having that conversation at home about it. and to, you know, i have heard stories about a kid, whether a little boy or girl, mommy or daddy, that is a girl out there racing, and then they can have the conversation to say, you can do whatever you want to. your gender doesn't matter. your passion is what matters. that's cool. >> well, cool girl power. by the way, danica's fellow driver michael waltrip will be racing for newtown, connecticut, at the daytona 500 and driving the number 26 sandy hook school support fund toyota. right there it is, right there. the car will honor the 26 victims of the sandy hook elementary shooting, and waltrip will be encouraging nascar fans to make $10 donations to the school support fund. good job. hundreds were hurt and thousands of buildings damaged when a meteor exploded over russia this week.

many residents are still shaken about the whole thing, some of the youngest very traumatized. their story, next.

[heart beating] [heartbeat continues] [heartbeat, music playing louder] ♪ i'm feeling better since you know me... ♪ announcer: this song was created with heartbeats of children in need. find out how it can help frontline health workers bring hope to millions of children at everybeatmatters.org.

what a great day it was friday for the thousands of people who finally got off of the cruise from hell. that was the carnival ship that was virtually dead in the water for five days, leaving passengers to sleep on the deck and walk around in raw sewage. last night on "saturday night live," the cast imagined what it was like on board that ship. >> now before we move on, we want to designate a few more areas on the boat as toilets, okay. all right. what have we got here? the superstar karaoke bar is now officially a toilet. okay? >> and the blue iguana cantina is now a toilet. >> just in time. okay. good. and the bonsai sushi restaurant, that is still a sushi restaurant, so you want to get in there soon before it becomes a toilet actually.

>> all right. you're really not famous until -- in america until "saturday night live" has had its way with you. and the makers mark said it goofed by trying to water down the whiskey. they should have remembered coca-cola. and the kentucky distiller says it won't change the makers mark, because it said last week that it would have to cut the alcohol volume to meet the rising global demand, but after being besieged with customer complaints they go back to 45% alcohol by volume, 90 proof. the images of that meteor crashing into remote russia last friday are now chilling. the blast sent people scrambling for cover and thousands of people hurt. among them hundreds of schoolchildren though the event lasted 32 seconds, it is having a lasting effect.

cnn's phil black reports from a russian village on how it has impacted the children. >> reporter: this small siberian village is usually a quiet place. 1,000 people living just south of the city. but on friday morning, they, like everyone in the region, were shocked by what they saw. an intense light followed by a trail of smoke across the sky. this kindergarten worker says that the 22 children in this room ran to the windows when she saw the light. but she felt that something was wrong and moved them away. she said she was still facing the windows when the meteor's shock wave hit. as the windows blew in, flying glass cut olga's hands and face, and she said she did not notice, because she was worried about the children. most were safe but terrified. but one was bleeding heavily. 3-year-old sasha suffered deep cuts to the hands and face.

her mother ran to the kindergarten after she heard the blast. i was shaking she says, and i grabbed her and started to calm her down. a lot of the kids were crying, too. this woman was also in the room that morning. she wasn't hurt physically by the blast but her mother says she's been traumatized. she's too afraid to stand by the windows and keeps asking if the glass is going to break again. ekaterina says that she understands what the children of the village are feeling, because she said the blast was so terrifying that it rekindled her own memories from the second world war. most of the visible damage to the region and the buildings can be repaired, but the meteor's impact on some will take longer to heal. phil black, cnn, russia. >> all right, phil. a troubled country singer has died. mindy mccready committed suicide tonight weeks after her

boyfriend took his own life. up next, dr. drew talks about treating mccready for addiction.

all right, give me a spot. you know my motto: safety first. they could be dangerous. i think we should call animal control. animal control? psh. to be safe... don't worry. i got this. it's a new motto. announcer: you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. there are thousands of teens in foster care who don't need perfection, they need you. mindy mccready a country singer with a string of hits and turbulent personal life is dead. cnn has confirmed that mccready committed suicide this afternoon at her home in arkansas. the sheriff in cleburne county says she shot herself there. she was 37 years old. outside of her successful

country music career, mccready struggled with addiction and mental illness and even agreeing to be treated on a tv reality show hosted by hln's dr. drew pinsky. i talked to dr. drew about her a short time ago. >> i don't know if people may or may not be aware, because she was doing very well, things were looking up from her. she had children with a boyfriend who ended up killing himself a few weeks ago. she was struggling after that, actually was admitted herself to a psychiatric facility. and there's a cautionary tale here about the stigma of mental illness and the way in which the public attacks celebrities who take care of themselves. she became so fearful of the stigma and the way people were responding to her being hospitalized, that she actually checked herself out prematurely and now we have what we have. >> as i am sitting here looking at her picture, i'm remembering a story from a while back that involved a child in custody with her. can you refresh our memory. >> she had a long struggle

regaining custody of her child who she finally recently had custody of again and, again, was establishing a stable home with her boyfriend and things went off on a bad direction after he killed himself. again, i have no direct knowledge of all of this, this is what i'm understanding. i did hear from very concerned relatives -- friends that she was strugging a few weeks ago. i hadn't seen her in years but reached out to her. she sounded good. >> you knew her personally. >> no, no. >> you didn't know her personally? >> i treated her for three weeks in a celebrity rehab episode several years ago and had contact on various levels for advice and what not. did not treat her. was not her physician. i did reach out to her when i heard she was struggling and urged her to take care of herself, get in a facility if she felt she needed. her biggest fear was the stigma of doing so and what people would think if she god forbid took care of